The BBC has officially confirmed that David Coulthard will join his former manager, and fellow driver, Martin Brundle in the commentary box for coverage of this year's F1 season. The news comes hours after Jonathan Legard ended months of speculation by admitting that he was off to seek pastures new.

"We're always looking for ways to take our F1 coverage to another level," Ben Gallop, the BBC's head of F1 told BBC Sport, "and for 2011 we have an exciting new combination in the commentary box. We're keen to make the most of Martin Brundle's wealth of broadcasting experience and his popularity with the audience by giving him the role of lead commentator and putting him alongside David Coulthard, one of the biggest names in British motorsport and a skilled race analyst.

"We want to tap into their combined on-track expertise," he continued, "together they will provide our viewers with more immediate discussion, analysis and debate as the action happens."

"I'm absolutely delighted," said Brundle, who is said to have been working furiously behind the scenes engineering the reshuffle, "and very motivated that BBC Sport has asked me to become the lead Formula 1 commentator alongside David Coulthard. We have been friends, rivals and colleagues for 18 years and combined we have driven more than 400 F1 grands prix and attended more than 700. "I've never felt more passionate about F1 and I can't wait to get started.

"I'm very excited to be joining forces with Martin in this new role of co-commentator," said Coulthard. "F1 is all about challenging yourself and this will be a big challenge for me, but one that I am looking forward to. There is a great team on the BBC F1 show and we're looking forward to the year ahead and to bringing something new to our loyal viewers."

Last week, the Mail on Sunday was known to be investigating Coulthard's likely promotion, concerned that the BBC, which receives £3.5bn annually in direct tax from British viewers, is paying the Scot while he is still linked to Red Bull.